Monday, 23d August. Principal Campbell, Sir Alexander Gordon, Professor Gordon, and Professor Ross, visited us in the morning, as did Dr. Gerard, who had come in six miles from the country on purpose. We went and saw the Marischal College, and at one o'clock we waited on the magistrates in the town-hall, as they had invited us in order to present Dr. Johnson with the freedom of the town, which Provost Jopp did with a very good grace. Dr. Johnson was much pleased with this mark of attention, and received it very politely.1 There was a pretty numerous company assembled. It was striking to hear all of them drinking "Dr. Johnson! Dr. Johnson!" in the town-hall of Aberdeen, and then to see him with his burgess-ticket, or diploma, in his hat, which he wore as he walked along the street, according to the usual custom. It gave me great satisfaction to observe the regard, and indeed fondness too, which every body here had for my father. While Sir Alexander Gordon conducted Mr. Johnson to old Aberdeen, Professor Gordon and I called on Mr. Riddoch, whom I found to be a grave worthy clergyman. He observed, that, whatever might be said of Dr. Johnson while he was alive, he would, after he was dead, be looked upon by the world with regard and astonishment, on account of his Dictionary. Professor Gordon and I walked over to the Old College, which • Dr. Beattie was so kindly entertained in England, that he had not yet returned home. Dr. Johnson's burgess-ticket was in these words: "Abredoniæ vigesimo tertio die mensis Augusti, anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo septuagesimo tertio, in presentia honora bilium virorum, Jacobi Jopp, armigeri, præpositi, Adami Duff, Gulielmi Young, Georgii Marr, et Gulielmi Forbes Bullivorum, Gulielmi Rainie, Decani Guildæ, et Joannis Nicoll Thesaurii dicti Burgi. "Quo die Vir generosus et Doctrina clarus, Samuel Johnson, L. L. D. receptus et admissus fuit in municipes et fratres Guildæ præfati Burgi de Aberdeen. In deditissimi amoris et affectus ac exemiæ observantiæ tesseram quibus dicti Magistratus eum amplectuntur. Extractum per me, Dr. Johnson had seen by this time. I stepped into the chapel, and looked at the tomb of the founder, Archbishop Elphinston, of whom I shall have occasion to write in my History of James IV. of Scolland, the patron of my family. We dined at Sir Alexander Gordon's. The Provost, Professor Ross, Professor Dunbar, Professor Thomas Gordon, were there. After dinner came in Dr. Gerard, Professor Leslie, Professor Macleod. We had had little or no conversation in the morning: now we were but barren. The professors seemed afraid to speak. Dr. Gerard told us that an eminent printer was very intimate with Warburton. JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, he has printed some of his works, and perhaps bought the property of some of them. The intimacy is such as one of the professors here may have with one of the carpenters who is repairing the college."1 "But (said Gerard) I saw a letter from him to this printer, in which he says, that the one half of the clergy of the church of Scotland are fanaticks, and the other half infidels." JOHNSON. "Warburton has accustomed himself to write letters just as he speaks, without thinking any more of what he throws out. When I read Warburton first, and observed his force, and his contempt of mankind, I thought he had driven the world before him; but I soon found that was not the case; for Warburton, by his extending his abuse, rendered it ineffectual.” He told me, when we were by ourselves, that he thought it very wrong in the printer, to shew Warburton's letter, as it was raising a body of enemies against him. He thought it foolish in Warburton to write so to the printer; and added, "Sir, the worst way of being intimate is by scribbling." He called Warburton's "Essay on Grace" a poor performance; and so he said was Wesley's "Answer." "Warburton, he observed, had laid himself very open. In particular, he was weak enough to say, that, in some disorders of the imagination, people had spoken with tongues, had spoken with languages which they never knew before; a thing as absurd as to say, that, in some disorders of the imagination, people had been known to fly." I talked of the difference of genius, to try if I could engage Gerard in a disquisition with Dr. Johnson; but I did not succeed. I mentioned, as a curious fact, that Lock had written verses. JOHNSON. "I know of none, Sir, but a kind of exercise prefixed to Dr. Syden This gave offence to Strahan, the printer alluded to, who was then a member of parliament. Mr Boswell, however, did not alter the passage. His principle seems to have been never to suppress or alter what Johnson had said, though he was willing enough to rectify statements of his own. ham's Works, in which he has some conceits about the dropsy; in which water and burning are united: and how Dr. Sydenham removed fire by drawing off water, contrary to the usual practice, which is to extinguish fire by bringing water upon it. I am not sure that there is a word of all this; but it is such kind of talk.”■ All this, as Dr. Johnson suspected at the time, was the immediate invention of his own lively imagination; for there is not one word of it in Mr. Lock's complimentary performance. My readers will, I have no doubt, like to be satisfied, by comparing them; and, at any rate, it may entertain to read verses composed by our great metaphysician, when a Bachelor in Physick. AUCTORI, IN TRACTATUM EJUS de Febribus. VOL. III. Febriles astus, victumque ardoribus orbem Nam post mille artes, Medica tentamina curæ, Præda sumus flammis; solum hoc speramus ab igne, Dum quærit Medicus Febris caussamque, modumque, Quas tractat patitur flammas, & Febre calescens, Qui tardos potuit morbos, artusque trementes, Sic faber exesos fulsit tibicine muros ; Dum trahit antiquas lenta ruina domos. Fit fuga, tectonicas nemo tunc invocat artes ; Non bilem ille movet, nulla hic pituita: Salutis Nec doctas magno rixas ostentat hiatu, Innocuas placide corpus jubet urere flammas, Et justo rapidos temperat igne focos. Quid Febrim exstinguat, varius quid postulat usus, Hactenus ipsa suum timuit Natura calorem, Dum sæpe incerto, quo calet, igne perit: Dum reparat tacitos male provida sanguinis ignes, Jam secura suas foveant præcordia flammas, Nec solum faciles compescit sanguinis æstus, 17 We spoke of Fingal. Dr. Johnson said calmly, "If the poems were really translated, they were certainly first written down. Let Mr. Macpherson deposit the manuscript in one of the colleges at Aberdeen, where there are people who can judge; and, if the professors certify the authenticity, then there will be an end of the controversy. If he does not take this obvious and easy method, he gives the best reason to doubt; considering too, how much is against it à priori." We sauntered after dinner in Sir Alexander's garden, and saw his little grotto, which is hung with pieces of poetry written in a fair hand. It was agreeable to observe the contentment and kindness of this quiet, benevolent man. Professor Macleod was brother to Macleod of Talisker, and brother-in-law to the Laird of Coll. He gave me a letter to young Coll. I was weary of this day, and began to think wishfully of being again in motion. I was uneasy to think myself too fastidious, whilst I fancied Dr. Johnson quite satisfied. But he owned to me that he was fatigued and teased, by Sir Alexander's doing too much to entertain him. I said, it was all kindness. JOHNSON. "True, Sir: but sensation is but sensation is sensation." BOSWELL. "It is so: we feel pain equally from the surgeon's probe, as from the sword of the foe." We visited two booksellers' shops, and could not find Arthur Johnston's Poems. We went and sat near an hour at Mr. Riddoch's. He could not tell distinctly how much education at the college here costs, which disgusted Dr. Johnson. I had pledged myself that we should go to the inn, and not stay supper. They pressed us, but he was resolute. I saw Mr. Riddoch did not please him. He said to me, afterwards, "Sir, he has no vigour in his talk." But my friend should have considered that he himself was not in good humour; so that it was not easy to talk to his satisfaction. We sat contentedly at our inn. He then became merry, and observed how little we had either heard or said at Aberdeen. That the Aberdonians had not started a single mawkin (the Scottish word for hare) for us to pursue. Post tot mille neces, cumulataque funera busto J. LOCK, A.M. Ex Aede Christi, Oxon. Tuesday, 24th August. We set out about eight in the morning, and breakfasted at Ellon. The landlady said to me, "Is not this the great Doctor that is going about through the country?" I said, "Yes." "Aye, (said she) we heard of him, I made an errand into the room on purpose to see him. There's something great in his appearance. It is a pleasure to have such a man in one's house; a man who does so much good. If I had thought of it, I would have shown him a child of mine who has had a lump on his throat for some time." "But (said I) he is not a doctor of physick." "Is he an oculist ?" said the landlord. "No (said I) he is only a very learned man." LANDLORD. LANDLORD. "They say he is the greatest man in England, except Lord Mansfield." Dr. Johnson was highly entertained with this, and I do think he was pleased too. He said, "I like the exception: to have called me the greatest man in England, would have been an unmeaning compliment. But the exception marked that the praise was in earnest; and, in Scotland, the exception must be Lord Mansfield, or-Sir John Pringle." He told me a good story of Dr. Goldsmith. Graham, who wrote "Telemachus, a Masque," was sitting one night with him and Dr. Johnson, and was half drunk. He rattled away to Dr. Johnson: "You are a clever fellow, to be sure; but you cannot write an essay like Addison, or verses like the 'Rape of the Lock.'" At last he said, "Doctor, I should be happy to see you at Eaton." "I shall be glad to wait on you," answered Goldsmith. "No, (said Graham) 'tis not you I meant, Dr. Minor; 'tis Dr. Major, there." Goldsmith was excessively hurt by this. He afterwards spoke of it himself. "Graham (said he) is a fellow to make one commit suicide." 1 We had received a polite invitation to Slains castle. We arrived there just at three o'clock, as the bell for dinner was ringing. Though, from its being just on the North-east Ocean, no trees will grow here, Lord Errol has done all that can be done. He has cultivated his fields so as to bear rich crops of every kind, and he Second Edition.-Line 29; Note added:-"I am sure I have related this story exactly as Dr. Johnson told it to me; but a friend who has often heard him tell it, informs me that he usually introduced a circumstance which ought not to be omitted. At last, sir, Graham, having now got to about the pitch of looking at one man, and talking to another, said Doctor,' &c. 'What effect (Dr. Johnson used to add) this had on Goldsmith, who was as irascible as a hornet, may be easily conceived."" 1 In the Garrick "Correspondence" is a letter of this Eton master's, which shows that he must have been a singularly disagreeable character. |